In-Hospital Clinical Outcomes and Procedural Complications of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Elderly Patients

BACKGROUND: As population growth leads to an increase in the number of the elderly with coronary artery disease, an evaluation of the clinical outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the elderly patients seems to be essential. METHODS: A prospective, observational cohort study was performed on 468 patients in two groups of elderly and non-elderly patients (mean age: 60.01 ± 10.84 years; ≥ 70 years, 20.1%; men, 62%) who underwent PCI, to evaluate the procedural success and in-hospital major and minor adverse cardiovascular events in the elderly patients. RESULTS: The procedural success rate was significantly lower (95.7% vs. 99.5%, P = 0.017) and the rates of in-hospital complications were significantly higher (10.6% vs. 0.8%, P < 0.0001) in elderly (+70) than in non-elderly patients. On the basis of a multivariate analysis, being elderly was not an independent predictor of procedural failure, but increased the chance of in-hospital complications to 8% higher (odds ratio: 0.08; 95% confidence interval: 0.01 - 0.39; P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Regardless of the difference in the procedural success and in-hospital complication rates between our two study groups, aging is not an important predictor of them. Furthermore, PCI should not be refused in elderly patients if indicated.